Believe it or not you can guide the thoughts of your customers in a direction that works for you. One of the cheesiest, and most obvious, ways that some organizations like to direct the thoughts of more gullible customers is to list several prices for a product showing how much the product has been discounted. This method does work to a certain extent, and why you really shouldn't will be a post for another day.
You aren't convinced? I wouldn't be either.
So let's do a couple exercises to illustrate how this works. First I need you to get a timer or stopwatch, pen or pencil, and a sheet of paper. No really, no cheating, you need to do this exercise.
OK now that you have done that I want you to set your timer for 20 seconds and take those 20 seconds to write down everything you can think of that is white.
Finally, set your timer for another 20 seconds and write down everything that is white in your refrigerator that is white.
If you did this correctly you probably wrote more things the second time around. That is because instead of having your mind open I was able to direct your thinking in a more productive direction.
The second example is from one of my own experiences. This was in a classroom setting and so I felt confident that it wouldn't affect my career, or my grade. I wouldn't suggest doing this in an actual customer research situation. During a class we were asked to come up with an idea for several new products, and to poll people to find the best one to pitch to the class. However, when it came time to write the survey I was able to word the question in such a way that we were able to come up with a much better response than another team that actually had a very similar idea to ours. All with adding a few words asking the respondents to answer as though they were in the market for something in that product line.
The ways to lead your customers' thoughts in the best direction are varied and really depend on the situation, but with some practice and careful thought you can improve your customer response by guiding their thoughts in a direction that is advantageous for both of you.
Still don't believe me? The next time you go to do pushups or some other form of physical exercise focus on a number that is 50% larger than your last result and see how much better you do. Then leave a comment and tell me how much better you did.
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Treat Your Budget Like an Asset
Your budget is an asset - It is such a simple phrase, and I can imagine that it would be rather difficult to find a person that would argue the opposite. At least with their words, yet so many managers argue the point with their actions. We have all known the manager who comes into a situation and seeks to show their worth by cutting costs.
So if your budget is such an asset, why are you throwing it out the window?
Cutting costs is an extremely short-term solution that only serves to give you short-term recognition from those that write the checks. In the long run you are left with no money to get results, and no experience for getting results if you can get the budget back.
An efficient organization will base a budget off careful planning regarding what each department needs to operate at its best. If that budget doesn't get used that sends the message that your department doesn't really need the funds that it has been given, and your funds go down for the coming year. However, your department should be looking for opportunities to outperform last years' efforts. How are you going to do that? Do the same as the year before with less? Where else are you going to make cuts? Resources can only be stretched so far, so eventually your department will be doing less with less.
At the same time the world is moving on. New innovations are taking place, your competitors are getting better at finding customers, creating new products, moving into new markets, or just finding ways to take better care of your customers than you are. And what have you accomplished? Where were you? You were too busy figuring out how to do the same old thing with less money.
Now when things really get hot and you need to find the next big thing you have to start with convincing your superiors that you need more money to just start testing what your competitors already know what will and will not work, and how to get the most out of it.
Does that mean that when you end up with extra funds you should give bonuses to all your employees, buy a new ping-pong table for the break room, or even take everyone out for a steak dinner? No, you should invest in testing and developing for the future. A smart executive will be more pleased to know that you are planning for the future of the organization as a whole than that you decided to just save them a few dollars.
This does not mean there is never a situation where costs should be cut. There are times when immediate needs take precedence. But if you find yourself cutting costs for the sake of looking good just stop, and go do something proactive immediately.
So if your budget is such an asset, why are you throwing it out the window?
Cutting costs is an extremely short-term solution that only serves to give you short-term recognition from those that write the checks. In the long run you are left with no money to get results, and no experience for getting results if you can get the budget back.
An efficient organization will base a budget off careful planning regarding what each department needs to operate at its best. If that budget doesn't get used that sends the message that your department doesn't really need the funds that it has been given, and your funds go down for the coming year. However, your department should be looking for opportunities to outperform last years' efforts. How are you going to do that? Do the same as the year before with less? Where else are you going to make cuts? Resources can only be stretched so far, so eventually your department will be doing less with less.
At the same time the world is moving on. New innovations are taking place, your competitors are getting better at finding customers, creating new products, moving into new markets, or just finding ways to take better care of your customers than you are. And what have you accomplished? Where were you? You were too busy figuring out how to do the same old thing with less money.
Now when things really get hot and you need to find the next big thing you have to start with convincing your superiors that you need more money to just start testing what your competitors already know what will and will not work, and how to get the most out of it.
Does that mean that when you end up with extra funds you should give bonuses to all your employees, buy a new ping-pong table for the break room, or even take everyone out for a steak dinner? No, you should invest in testing and developing for the future. A smart executive will be more pleased to know that you are planning for the future of the organization as a whole than that you decided to just save them a few dollars.
This does not mean there is never a situation where costs should be cut. There are times when immediate needs take precedence. But if you find yourself cutting costs for the sake of looking good just stop, and go do something proactive immediately.
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